


A Daydream Away

by marichatting



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Protective Chat Noir, and yes it's named after an all time low song, there's a mugging scene btw, why do i always post fics in the middle of the night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 10:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15362592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marichatting/pseuds/marichatting
Summary: Adrien lost faith in soulmates after seeing how his family fell apart.Marinette dreams about meeting her soulmate every day.One day, Marinette discovers that she and Chat Noir have matching soulmate marks.





	A Daydream Away

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what this is. Not my best work, honestly, but still cute.
> 
> Also: it's 3:30am and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself.

Adrien didn’t believe in soulmates.

Well, that wasn’t quite true; obviously he believed that they existed- he had a soulmate mark of his own, after all- he just didn’t believe they were all they were cracked up to be.

When he was younger, he was a true believer in the power of soulmates. He would spend his free time daydreaming about meeting his soulmate, and his mother would tell him stories about how she and her friends met their soulmates.

Back then, Adrien believed that the connection between soulmates was the most powerful thing in the world. He thought that, as long as you had your soulmate with you, nothing could really hurt you. Even if everything started to go wrong in your life, at least you would still have your soulmate.

Then his mother went missing.

After her disappearance, his father became cold and distant. Adrien saw how it tore him up on the inside and changed him as a person. He saw how the “power of soulmates” didn’t protect him from getting hurt. It didn’t protect his mother from whatever had happened to her. It didn’t protect their family from falling apart.

Soulmates were supposed to live happily and grow old together. Clearly, that wasn’t a reality.

After that, he couldn’t help but doubt the whole concept of “soulmates.” It was a nice idea, sure, and it was comforting to think that there was a person out there who was perfect for him, but… after seeing what had happened to his parents, he began to think that, maybe, soulmates didn’t matter as much as he used to think they did.

***

Marinette spent every day dreaming of meeting her soulmate.

Her childhood was spent observing her parents and how much they loved each other. After seeing them together, she couldn’t wait to meet her own soulmate.

The mere idea of her soulmate was a comfort to her on difficult days. When she was having a hard time in school, or Chloé was being particularly awful to her, or she had an unrequited crush, she took solace in the fact that there was someone out there who was perfect for her. She knew for a fact that she would one day find that person. She would find someone whose soulmate mark was visible only to her, and her own soulmate mark would be visible only to that someone.

And until the day they would finally meet, her soulmate was just a daydream away.

***

After she developed a crush on Adrien, she frequently found herself wondering where his soulmate mark was.

While soulmates _were_ a popular topic of discussion at their age, Adrien rarely joined in on those conversations. Marinette could tell from his behavior that he became somewhat uncomfortable when people discussed soulmate marks.

She wondered with a sinking heart whether he even had one or not. Some people didn’t. There weren’t many of them, but they did exist.

The people who didn’t have them weren’t always aromantic. Aromantic people _did_ make up the largest percentage of people without marks, but many aromantic people had platonic soulmates.

But there were those few alloromantic people who simply didn’t have a soulmate.

“Does Adrien have a soulmate mark?” she asked Nino one day when she was having lunch with him and Alya.

He raised his eyebrows at her. “Of course he has a soulmate mark. Why?”

She shrugged, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as she avoided his gaze. “He just… he always seems uncomfortable when people talk about soulmates, so I just thought…”

“He has one,” Nino assured her. “I think it’s somewhere on his chest.”

“So, why does he get so freaked out when people talk about soulmates?”

Nino bit his lip, clearly thinking carefully about his answer. “Adrien… isn’t as fond of the idea of soulmates as most people are.”

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Well, after what happened with his mom, his dad got all… well, you’ve met him. He saw how being soulmates didn’t protect his family from falling apart, and now, he doesn’t really believe that soulmates are that important.”

Marinette furrowed her brow. “But doesn’t he want to meet his soulmate?”

Nino shrugged. “He told me he doesn’t really care that much anymore. Like, he wants to meet his soulmate, yeah, but he’s not as hung up on it as he used to be when he was younger. Now he thinks that soulmates are… I don’t know. Overrated, I guess.”

Marinette bit her bottom lip and stared down at her food. She had heard of people not believing in soulmates despite their markings, and she had heard of people who fell in love with someone who _wasn’t_ their soulmate, but it made her sad to know that Adrien’s parents had caused him to lose his faith in soulmates.

She hoped that, whoever and wherever his soulmate was, they would help him believe again.

***

When Adrien met Ladybug, he felt as if he finally understood the excitement surrounding soulmates again.

He didn’t know if they were soulmates, but he _did_ know that he sometimes found himself desperately wishing that they were.

When he caught himself thinking those thoughts, he tried to shake it off. He saw what had happened to his parents. He knew that being soulmates didn’t mean that you were destined to have a happy, romantic life and grow old with that person.

But, despite his reservations surrounding soulmates, he couldn’t help but hope.

***

Marinette was sixteen when Chat Noir started visiting her at night.

It had started one chilly evening when she had climbed through the trapdoor that led to her balcony to see Chat Noir leaning against the railing.

“Chat Noir?” she had squeaked in surprise, startling the boy. “What are you doing here?”

The blond had blushed and turned away. “Sorry, I- I just needed an escape, y’know? Family stuff.”

“Are you okay?” she had asked as she approached him.

“I will be,” he had told her. “I just… I’m sorry. I’ll go.”

“No,” Marinette had reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving. He had turned back to her, his green eyes surprised. “I- I’ll get you some food from the bakery.”

“That’s okay, really-“

“No, really. I want to. Think of it as a ‘thank you’ for all that you do for Paris.”

That night had been the start of a beautiful friendship.

Chat began visiting frequently. They would talk, laugh, play games, watch movies, and snack on pastries together. They quickly became best friends.

He brought her a cupcake on her seventeenth birthday, and she didn’t know it, but she was with him on his seventeenth birthday as well.

One night about six months after his first visit, Chat knocked on the trapdoor that led to Marinette’s bedroom, but there was no response.

He furrowed his brow. It wasn’t like her to be out so late; perhaps she was just in the bathroom or downstairs.

He waited for a few minutes and then tapped on the trapdoor again, but there was still no response.

That was when he heard a commotion down on the street.

“Give me your bag! Now!”

“No way!”

Chat’s eyes widened as he heard the second voice. _Marinette._

He rushed to the railing of the balcony and saw a man pointing a knife at Marinette, who was desperately clutching her small purse to her body.

Anger flooded his body, and before he could even stop to think about his actions, he found himself standing between Marinette and the criminal.

“I don’t think you want to do that,” he growled at the man.

The man let out a laugh. “Please. You’re just a kid. What are you going to do to me?”

“I may be young,” Chat said menacingly as he took a step toward him. “But I’m also powerful. I’m no Ladybug; _I_ have the powers of destruction, not creation. One word from me and a simple touch from my hand would turn you to ash.”

“I’m not afraid of some kid.”

“Even if that kid has superpowers?”

The man scoffed. _“You_ may have superpowers, but _I_ have a knife.”

With that, he extended his arm and used his knife to slice open Chat’s shoulder.

Chat heard Marinette shriek, and he cursed as his hand flew to the bloody wound.

“Now, tell your little girlfriend here to hand over her purse,” the man demanded, holding out his hand expectantly. “Or _she’ll_ get the same treatment.”

“Chat,” Marinette whispered frantically from behind him. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Princess,” he growled in response. “But soon, this man _won’t_ be.”

The man laughed. “Please. As if you’d actually do anything to hurt me. You’re just a kid.”

“I’ll do what I have to do.”

“Okay,” the man said. “Then let’s see it.”

Swiftly, before Chat could react, the man reached behind him and grabbed Marinette by the wrist. She let out a yelp as the man yanked her toward him.

The criminal’s arms wrapped around Marinette’s shoulders as one hand gripped her hair tightly to keep her head upright and the other held the knife to her throat.

“What are you gonna do now, kitty-cat?” the man taunted him.

Anger and adrenaline coursed through Chat’s veins.

“Cataclysm,” he growled, activating his power.

He charged toward the man, hand outstretched but positioned so that it would miss Marinette.

 _“Chat, stop!”_ Marinette screamed when she realized what he was going to do. Chat froze in his tracks. “You’ll kill him! Ladybug’s power won’t be able to fix this!”

“He’s holding a knife to your throat, Marinette,” he snarled, not taking his eyes off of the man.

“Don’t kill him, Chat,” Marinette begged. “You’ll regret it, I promise. It’ll scar you for life. You won’t be able to come back from that.”

“But he- he-“

 _“Please,_ Chaton.”

Chat had been so focused on protecting Marinette that he hadn’t even noticed the sirens approaching. The police cars skidded to a halt near them, and several officers climbed out of the cars, aiming guns at the man.

“Drop your weapon,” they commanded. “Let the girl go.”

The criminal slowly released Marinette, his eyes wide with panic, and he let the knife fall to the ground.

As soon as the knife was away from her throat, Marinette rushed forward into Chat’s arms, and he stumbled backwards from the force of her body colliding with his. He hugged her tightly, careful not to touch her with the hand that would turn her to dust.

“Hey, can you hand that to me, please?” he asked a police officer, pointing at an empty water bottle on the ground. The officer handed the bottle to him with a confused look on her face, and it turned to ash in his hand.

“You’re okay,” he whispered to Marinette as he stroked her hair.

Marinette sniffed and took a step away from him, her eyes catching on his bloodied shoulder. “Yeah, but _you’re_ not. Jeez, Chat, you need to get to the hospital.”

“No, I can’t,” he said. “They’ll find out who I am.”

“But you- you need stitches,” Marinette said, staring at the deep wound.

“Nah,” he said, gritting his teeth through the pain as he tried to play it off. “It’s fine. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Yeah, you definitely need stitches,” an officer chimed in, looking at the large cut that stretched from the left side of his chest just underneath his collarbone to the middle of his shoulder. “I can take you to the hospital, if you want.”

“No, thank you, officer,” Chat responded to him. “I- um- I’ll just… go home, and-“

“No,” Marinette protested. “At _least_ come back to my house with me. We have a first-aid kit in the bathroom, and I can probably find a tutorial on YouTube or something.”

Chat furrowed his brow. “Do you really think they have tutorials on giving stitches on YouTube?”

Marinette shrugged. “There are a lot of videos on YouTube. They have tutorials for _everything.”_

“That doesn’t sound safe,” the officer said. “I really think you should go to a hospital.”

Suddenly, Chat’s miraculous beeped. “I- I need to go. I’m gonna detransform.”

“You’re not going anywhere except my house,” Marinette protested grabbing his wrist. “I’ll give you some privacy to detransform, but once you’re back in the suit, you _have_ to let me try.”

Chat sighed. “Okay. Come on.”

He grabbed her by the waist, wincing from the movement of his arm. He quickly thanked the police officers for their help and used his baton to lift them onto her balcony.

Checking to make sure her parents weren’t there, she quickly ushered him into the bathroom, where he closed the door and released his transformation.

“Hey, Marinette?” he called through the closed door.

“Yeah?”

“Do you happen to have any cheese? Particularly camembert?”

“Um… yeah,” she said slowly. “Do you want me to go get some for you?”

“Yes, please,” he responded weakly.

Marinette returned about a minute later with a small paper plate containing a slice of camembert cheese. She cracked the door open and stuck her arm inside the bathroom to hand him the cheese, turning her head away so she wouldn’t accidentally see his face.

“Thank you,” he said, handing the cheese to Plagg.

“Hey, kid, what happened?” Plagg asked through a mouthful of cheese, gesturing to his shoulder.

“Some mugger pulled a knife on Marinette,” he explained shortly.

“Why are you here instead of at the hospital?”

“If I go to the hospital, they’ll figure out who I am.”

“Not if you go in as your civilian self.”

“But if I do that, they’ll call my father, and I won’t be able to explain what happened or why I snuck out of the house. I’m here because Marinette thinks she can help.”

A few moments later, Plagg finished his cheese, and Adrien transformed once again.

Chat opened the door, and Marinette entered the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her.

“Sit on the side of the tub,” she instructed him, opening a cabinet door and pulling a first-aid kit out from underneath the sink. He did as he was told.

She turned back to him. “Does that suit come off?”

He felt his cheeks heat up. “W- what?”

“I can’t get to the cut through the suit.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Here.” He grabbed the bell-shaped zipper at his throat and pulled it down, then peeled the material of his suit away from the wound, exposing his shoulder and the top left part of his torso.

Marinette froze, staring at his chest.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Is… is that…?” she stuttered, pointing at a spot on his chest.

He looked down, and his stomach lurched.

She was pointing at a small black spot on his chest that was shaped like a butterfly.

His soulmate mark.

His head snapped up to meet her gaze, his eyes going wide. “You- you can see it?”

She nodded, her eyes also wide.

“You- you can see my soulmate mark.”

She nodded again.

“So- so that means…”

They were both silent for a moment, staring into each other’s eyes, until Marinette moved. She pulled up her shirt a bit so that Chat could see a spot at the bottom of her stomach.

She had a tiny black butterfly, too.

Chat couldn’t even process this revelation. Absentmindedly, he reached his hand out to trace the butterfly on her skin lightly with his claw.

“So,” Marinette said slowly. “We’re… y’know.”

“Yeah,” Chat breathed, putting his hand back down at his side and looking up at her from his place on the side of the bathtub. “We are.”

***

They were mostly silent as Marinette worked on Chat’s wound. The only sounds came from the YouTube tutorial she had pulled up on her phone and the tiny pained noises he made every few seconds.

Finally, she finished giving him the stitches and cleaned up, then snuck him back up to her bedroom. They climbed through the trapdoor to her balcony, where Chat stopped and turned to face his newfound soulmate.

“Can- um- can I come over tomorrow night?” he asked awkwardly.

“You know you don’t have to ask,” Marinette responded softly.

“I know, I just… I don’t know. It just feels different, now, I guess,” he said lamely. “Uh… I’ll see you tomorrow night, then.”

“Okay, see you then.”

He turned to leave, but Marinette reached out to grab his wrist, effectively stopping him.

“Wait, Chat.”

He turned back to look at her. “Yeah?”

Her heart pounding, she leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

She could feel her face heating up, and in the dim light from the moon and streetlights, she could tell that he was blushing, too.

“Goodnight, Chaton,” she said, releasing his wrist.

“Goodnight, Princess.”

***

Marinette looked very distracted for a good portion of the next day.

“Are you okay, Mari?” Alya asked her at lunch. “You’ve been so spacey all day.”

“I’m fine,” Marinette said softly. “It’s just, um. I sort of… met my soulmate last night.”  


Adrien’s heart skipped a beat. Alya let out an excited shriek, and Nino dropped his fork in surprise.

“What?!” Alya exclaimed. “Are you serious?!”

“Yeah,” Marinette said, giving her friend a tiny smile. “I mean, I didn’t just meet him last night; we’ve actually known each other for a while, but we just found out we were soulmates last night.”

“That is _incredible,”_ Alya beamed. “Who is it? Is it someone we know?”

“N- no,” Marinette said hesitantly. “He- he’s just someone who, um, stops by the bakery for pastries a lot.”

Adrien smiled softly at her. “Congratulations, Marinette.”

“Th- thank you,” she said, her cheeks turning a bit pink as she tilted her head down to stare at her food.

“Are you happy it’s him?” he asked, his heart pounding nervously in anticipation of her response.

“Hm?” Marinette hummed, looking up at him.

“Are you happy it’s him?” he repeated. “I mean, um, now that you know he’s the person you’re- y’know- destined to love or whatever, are you happy it’s him?”

A small smile formed on her face as she fiddled with her thumbs. “Yeah. I am.”

***

That night, Marinette was already sitting on her balcony and waiting for him when he arrived.

“Good evening, Princess,” he purred, giving her an exaggerated bow as he landed next to her.

She smiled fondly at him. “Hi, Chat.” She stood from her chair. “How’s your shoulder doing?”

He shrugged. “It still hurts, but not as much as it did yesterday. I did get some weird looks today when I was moving my arm all awkwardly at school, but at least I haven’t broken any stitches. You did a great job, Mari.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“Of course.”

“You know, my friends are _dying_ to meet you,” she told him.

He smirked. “Really?”

She nodded. “Well, they’re dying to meet my soulmate. They don’t actually know who you are.” She laughed. “I told them you were just someone who stops by the bakery for food a lot.”

He laughed in response as if he hadn’t been a part of that conversation. “Well, it’s not like that was really a _lie_.”

“Just not the _whole_ truth,” she agreed with a smile.

“Right,” he said, smiling back. His smile faded after a moment “So… about this whole ‘soulmate’ thing…”

The smile dropped off of Marinette’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” he assured her quickly. “I- I’m glad it’s you. But… I don’t really believe in soulmates.”

Marinette furrowed her brow. “You don’t… believe? How do you not believe in soulmates?”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, shaking his head. “Sorry, bad phrasing. I just, um… my parents were soulmates, and that didn’t keep my family from falling apart, y’know? Everyone always talks about the ‘power of soulmates,’ and when I was little I really believed in it. I thought that, as long as you had your soulmate in your life, you could always be happy, no matter what life threw at you. But… after seeing how it didn’t keep my father from getting hurt, and how my parents didn’t get to live happy lives and grow old together, and how my family fell apart… I don’t know. I just don’t really think soulmates are as… _important_ as everyone thinks, if that makes any sense.”

Marinette reached out to rub his arm comfortingly. “It does make sense,” she told him softly. “And I’m so sorry you had to go through that. But… just know that _we_ don’t have to end up like that.”

He smiled back at her. “I know.”

***

“So,” Chat said to her later that night. “I guess I should tell you who I really am, huh?”

Marinette felt a jolt of panic shoot through her body. If Chat told her his identity, she would have to tell him that she was Ladybug, right?

She wasn’t ready for that.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she said quickly. He quirked an eyebrow at her. “I mean, not yet. This is all kind of a sudden development, y’know? You don’t have to tell me yet if you’re not ready. We have our whole lives.”

Chat smiled at her. “Yeah. I guess we do.”

***

Over the course of the next week, Adrien could hardly restrain himself from telling her who he was.

Every day when he saw her at school, he was dying to tell her. Every day, he had to hold himself back.

But quietly observing her from a distance _did_ have its perks. He began to notice things about her that he had never noticed before.

He liked to think that he knew her pretty well from the time he had spent with her as Chat Noir over the past few months, but in truth, the version he knew so well wasn’t the version she presented to the public. When they hung out, they were always in her bedroom or on her balcony, and it was always just the two of them. When she was at school, around all these people, she had a tendency to become more reserved. She had different habits and little behaviors that he hadn’t noticed before.

Every day, he learned more about her. Every day, he became even happier that she was the one who could see his mark.

***

“My mom mentioned you the other day,” Marinette commented one night about a week after the realization.

Chat, who was hanging his head upside down off her bed, looked at her. “She did?”

“Yeah,” Marinette said, looking up from her sketchbook to meet his eyes. “She saw a video of you or something, and she said, ‘that boy is far too skinny for his age. He needs to get some meat on his bones. I wish he’d come by here sometime, so I could give him a gift basket.’”

Chat laughed. “Are you serious?”

“Yep! My mom always seems concerned when she sees a child who looks to be even slightly under the average weight for their height and age.”

“She doesn’t even know how old I am!” he protested.

“I mean, it’s not that hard to tell that you’re a teenager,” she said.

“What? How?”

“Well, there are a few things, but mainly your voice,” she responded. “But it was especially easy to tell how young you were a few years back, when your voice was so high and squeaky.”

Chat scowled. “My voice was not high and squeaky!”

“Yes, it was,” Marinette laughed. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Chat. I’m sure there are plenty of guys who don’t hit puberty until they’re sixteen.”

He sat up and turned around to glare at her. “I hit puberty long before I was sixteen!”

“Well, apparently, your voice didn’t get the memo.”

He faked an offended gasp. “How dare you?! I’ll have you know that my voice has been perfectly manly for several years now.”

Marinette laughed. “Okay. Keep telling yourself that.”

Chat shook his head. “I’m so disappointed in you, Mari. I never knew you could be so cruel. Such a _bully.”_

“Hey, I’m just stating the facts, here.”

 _“Hmph,”_ Chat huffed, crossing his arms. “That’s rude. I don’t think I like you anymore.”

Marinette laughed and stood from her chair. “I’m sorry, Chat.”

“It’s _not_ okay,” he said. “You’re going to have to make it up to me.”

She approached the bed on which he sat, an amused smile on her face. “And how exactly might I do that?”

He looked over at her. “Cuddles.”

Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said, trying to fight his own blush. “Cuddles are the only thing that will fix this.”

After a moment, she sighed dramatically. “Okay, fine. If I _have_ to.”

He grinned victoriously and moved over to make room for her on the bed. “You do.”

She awkwardly joined him on her bed, lying down on her side to face him.

After a moment, he held his arms out as if for a hug.

She rolled her eyes, her cheeks turning a darker shade of red, and moved closer to him. He gently wrapped his arms around her warm body, and she rested her head on his arm.

She was so close to him that he could see the light freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks.

After a moment, her arms wrapped around him, too, and he smiled at the feeling.

“Marinette?” he whispered.

She hummed in response.

“I… I know I said I don’t really believe in the whole ‘soulmate’ thing, but… I’m glad it’s you.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m glad it’s you, too, Chaton.”

His heart was pounding so hard that he just _knew_ she could feel it against her body. Slowly, he leaned down toward her and gently pressed his lips against hers.

The kiss was quick and chaste, and while a more experienced kisser probably wouldn’t have thought much of it, Chat was giddy.

That was his first kiss.

His first real one, anyway; Ladybug had apparently kissed him back when they were thirteen, but he couldn’t remember it since he was under the influence of the akuma.

After a moment, he initiated a second kiss. This one was longer and more drawn-out. They were both clumsy and inexperienced, but that didn’t detract from the butterflies he felt in his stomach.

Her lips were soft and warm, and her lip gloss tasted of strawberries. His heart felt like it could burst at any moment.

He deepened the kiss, gently pushing her onto her back. He remained on his side, his elbow propping him up as his head and shoulders leaned over her body to kiss her.

Suddenly, the trapdoor in the floor of her bedroom flew open.

“Marinette, I- holy _crap!”_

It was Alya’s voice.

Chat flew away from Marinette, burying his face in a pillow.

“Alya!” Marinette exclaimed, sitting bolt upright in her bed. “I- I-“

“Is that… _Chat Noir?”_

“No!” Marinette exclaimed. “It’s- it’s-“

“Holy crap, it _is_ Chat Noir!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Yes, it is! I can clearly see his cat ears!”

He grimaced and looked up from the pillow. “Hi.”

Alya shook her head. “Mari, why is Chat Noir-“ she stopped mid-sentence and gasped, her eyes going wide. “Wait, is _he_ your soulmate?!”

“Um,” Marinette said. “Would you believe me if I said no?”

Alya shrieked excitedly. “This is incredible! Chat Noir is my best friend’s soulmate! This is the best day of my life!”

Marinette’s face was beet-red. “Alya, you can’t tell anyone about this.”

“Duh,” Alya responded. “Hey, I’m gonna be your maid of honor, right?”

“Alya!”

Alya raised her arms in surrender. “Fine. I’ll give you two some privacy. But can I get my math textbook back?”

“It’s on the desk.”

“Thanks.” Alya quickly grabbed the textbook and retreated back through the trapdoor, but not before sending the pair a quick wink. “Be careful, you two.”

_“Alya!”_

The other girl merely snickered and closed the trapdoor behind her.

Marinette collapsed back onto her bed with a sigh of relief the moment she was gone.

“Well,” Chat said slowly after a moment. “I guess she knows now.”

Marinette burst out laughing.

Chat grinned, slightly confused, and furrowed his brow. “What’s so funny?”

“I can’t believe my best friend just walked in on me making out with a guy dressed in a skin-tight leather cat suit,” she said through giggles.

He laughed and shook his head. “You’re gonna have some explaining to do the next time you see her.”

***

He was right.

At school the next day, Alya walked into the room and immediately looked around for her friend, despite the fact that Marinette always got to school after her.

As soon as the pigtailed girl walked into the room, Alya stood from her desk.

“I _need_ details, girl,” she said loudly.

Marinette shushed her, and Adrien smiled as he heard her whisper to her friend that she would explain after school.

***

About two weeks after Marinette first saw Chat Noir’s soulmate mark, there was an akuma attack near the Arc de Triomphe.

It was the first time she had been Ladybug with him since the day she discovered he was her soulmate, and now she wasn’t quite sure how to behave around him.

How are you _supposed_ to behave around someone when you know that you’re destined to fall in love with them and live out your lives together?

The akuma victim wasn’t a particularly formidable foe, and within fifteen minutes, Ladybug had already purified the akuma and cleared away the destruction from the attack.

After the battle, Chat was just about to leap away from her to detransform, but she grabbed him by the wrist to stop him.

“Wait,” she said. “Can… can we talk?”

He hesitated. “I’m gonna detransform.”

She nodded. “Me, too.”

He furrowed his brow in confusion. “Then why-“

“Just trust me,” she said. “Come on.”

She led him to the top of a tall building nearby. She knew no one would be able to see them all the way up here.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, his voice laced with worry. His miraculous beeped.

“It’s fine,” she assured him. “It’s… great, actually.”

“Then… what’s up?”

Her miraculous beeped. “I- I have something to tell you.”

“And… what is it?” he prompted her. His miraculous beeped again.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” she told him. “I’m… well, you’ll see. Tikki, spots off.”

There was a bright flash of pink light, and when it had disappeared, Chat Noir was covering his eyes.

“Ladybug, I- I thought you didn’t want me to know.”

She smiled fondly at him. He really wanted to make her happy.

“I changed my mind.”

“Are… are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said, stepping toward him and grabbing his arms to gently pull his hands away from his eyes. “I’m sure.”

He looked at her, and realization dawned in his green eyes as he recognized her.

“Marinette,” he grinned. _“You’re_ Ladybug?”  


“Yeah,” she said nervously. “You’re not… disappointed, are you?”

“Of course not,” he beamed. “The girl I’ve been crushing on for years now is also the girl I’ve been crushing on for weeks _and_ my soulmate. This is more than I could have ever wanted.”

He pulled her into a tight hug, and she giggled.

Suddenly, he pushed her away by the shoulders.

“You are not going to _believe_ this,” he said, grinning excitedly. “Plagg, claws in.”

There was a bright flash of green light, and then Marinette was looking into the eyes of Adrien Agreste.

She grinned. “Seriously? This whole time, it was _you?”_

“Sorry I didn’t tell you,” he said. “Every time I saw you at school, I wanted to tell you, but-“

“Wait,” Marinette interrupted. “You let me explain to Alya why Chat Noir was making out with me in my bedroom _by myself._ ”

Adrien grimaced. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“You- you butthead!”

Adrien let out a laugh. “Wow, Mari. Watch your language.”

Marinette called him another name, but this one wasn’t quite as innocent as “butthead.”

“Hey!” he laughed. “I did nothing to deserve _that!”_

“Alya interrogated me for an _hour,”_ she retorted. “You deserve _worse_ than that.”

He smiled fondly at her. “I’m sorry, Princess.”

She scowled up at him. “You’re lucky you’re cute. Otherwise, you’d be dead right now.”

He took a step toward her, closing most of the distance between them, and leaned toward her with a smirk.

“You think I’m cute?”

Her cheeks flooded with pink. “Shut up, Agreste.”

Then she kissed him, and it felt just like the first time all over again.

He hoped it would feel that way every time.

***

The next day, Alya practically had a stroke when she saw Marinette and Adrien holding hands in the hallway.

She ran up to them, her gaze darting wildly between the two of them as she pointed at Adrien.

“You- you’re-“

Adrien shot her his best Chat Noir grin and winked.

***

“I lost my faith in soulmates at a young age,” Adrien said three years later as he stood at the altar. “I didn’t believe that the connection between them was as powerful as everyone said, and I didn’t think that they were really that important or exciting. You proved me wrong.” He smiled down at Marinette, who was wearing a small white flower crown to match her dress. “Thanks to you, I have faith in soulmates again. I promise that I will always love and cherish you, and I will never waver in my support for you. I will stand by you for the rest of my life, and I will never again lose faith in the power of soulmates.”

He could see tears welling up in Marinette’s eyes, and he could feel his own eyes beginning to burn with tears.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Alya grinning widely. She had finally gotten to fulfill her dream of being the maid of honor at their wedding, and she was loving every moment of it.

A few moments and a couple of “I dos” later, Adrien grinned giddily as he leaned forward to kiss his wife.

He smiled into the kiss. It felt just like the first time all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment with feedback and/or make a request! Thanks!
> 
> -Emma
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: [mykinkisdracomalfoy ](http://www.mykinkisdracomalfoy.tumblr.com)


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